None of the “terrible things’ that opponents of the liberation of Iraq predicted has happened:

* US troops are leaving in an orderly fashion and in accordance with the timetable fixed by the Bush administration.

* The Americans are not fleeing Iraqi mobs. In fact, many Iraqis, perhaps a majority, wanted the US to maintain a military presence. It didn’t happen because Obama wants to pander to his original base, groups that opposed the liberation of Iraq.

* Iraq has not been divided, as Biden and his friends once suggested, into several mini-states.

* Nor is it a scene of chaos as candidate Obama predicted. Paradoxically, Iraq seems to be the most stable of Arab countries as they are all shaken by revolts of various dimensions.

* Iraq has not been plunged into poverty and starvation. According to the International Monetary Fund, it has the fastest growth rate in the Mideast. The Iraqi dinar is the strongest of the oil currencies.

* The claim that America invaded to “steal” Iraq’s oil has been exposed as the lie it was. In fact, Iraqi officials complain of US oil companies’ reluctance to bid for contracts. In contrast, Baghdad has signed dozens of contracts with oil companies from 40 other countries, including Russia, China, France and India.

* Another lie, propagated by professional anti-Americans, was that the US wanted to turn Iraq into a military base, perhaps for invading Iran. That lie has been replaced with another: Iran filling the vacuum left by Americans. But if the wealthy superpower couldn’t bear the cost of controlling Iraq, how can Iran, a poor and smaller power, do the trick